The Catholic Parish of Blessed John Henry Newman

Covering most of East Leeds

The Gift.

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A Young man was getting ready to graduate from university. For a long time he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom and knowing that his father could well afford it, he told his dad that he would love this as a graduation gift. As his graduation day approached the young man
began looking for signs that his father had bought him the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his study and told him how proud he was to have such a fine son and he told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box, curious, but somewhat disappointed he opened the box and found lovely leather bound Bible with his name embossed in gold leaf on the front. The young man angrily shouted at his father, “With all your money all you can spare is a Bible,” then he stormed out of the house leaving the unopened Bible on his father’s desk.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in his own business, but had never spoken to his father since his graduation. He now had money, a beautiful home, a loving wife and two sons of his own and was beginning to feel that as his father was quite old now, perhaps he should make an effort and go and see him at last. Before he could make his arrangements, he received a phone call from his father’s solicitors telling him that his father had passed away and had willed all his possessions to his son, so he needed to come home to finalise all the arrangements.

When he arrived at his father’s house, sadness and regret filled his heart as he began sorting through his father’s papers. On his father’s desk lay the still new Bible just as he had left it many years before, with tears in his eyes he opened the book and began to turn the pages. His father had
underlined a passage from Matthew which read, “And if ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father, which is in Heaven give to those who ask him.”

As he picked up the Bible with tearful eyes, a car key dropped from the back of the book. It had a tag with the dealer’s name and on the tag was the date of his graduation and the words “Paid in full.”

How many times do we miss out on blessings because, they are not packaged as we expected?

“There are three marks of a superior man:
Being virtuous, he is free from anxiety;
Being wise, he is free from perplexity;
Being brave, he is free from fear.